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87 Accord oil burning when cold.

I used to have an '87 Accord seadn (2.0/2bbl/5spd) that developed a habit of burning oil REAL BAD when it was cold, but as soon as it warmed up, the oil burning cleared up completely - flew thru emissions test, no problems. It was suggested a worn valve seal was the culprit (would expand and close up once warm), so I had the head rebuilt, to no avail.

Anyway, I lived with it (as did my neighbors) for a while until I wrote the car off...

Now I've picked up an '87 Accord hatchback, with the same engine and the same problem, though not as bad (yet). The thing runs great, compression to spare; I suspect the engine was rebuilt not too long ago, because it goes like stink. There's gotta be something else.

Two out of three near-identicals Accords now with this problem - is this a known thing? Is there a known fix?

Only other possible thing I can think of is the PCV valve, which I couldn't replace on the first car because I could never get the %@#*$& thing out of the @^$#)# manifold... now I've managed to get it loose and replace it on this one, and just waiting to get the alternator working again to try it out. Unless someone has another suggestion?

Reply to
Matt Ion
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what are the symptoms that indicate that it's buring oil only when cold? you need to be more specific so we can help.

Reply to
jim beam

Ummm... it blows out huge amounts of burnt-oil-smelling blue smoke when the engine is cold, and doesn't once it's warmed up. Can't get much more specific than that.

Reply to
Matt Ion

Hello, I suggest that you run a compression check on each cylinder and repost after you have done that. It's possible that some or all of the rings might need to be replaced. It's fairly common for older cars with over a

100,000 miles on them to eventually develop problems with the rings. When the rings get in really bad shape--you have lots of smoke coming out the exhaust pipes.
Reply to
Jason

My experience is that worn rings tend to cause a more consistant, less severe oil burning - it blows a little blue all the time, expecially under acceleration, rather than heavy burning while cold that goes away once things warm up.

Reply to
Matt Ion

never had this prob on a honda, just wondering if it could be the valve guides? My 85 Nissan did this....

t
Reply to
disallow

I realize that you are right related to vehicles that have a major problem with all or at least most all of the rings. However, if there is only a minor problem with one or two rings--you may end up with the problem that you mentioned. A compression check should help you determine if I am or am not correct. If I am wrong--you would have learned that you need to look elsewhere for the cause of the problem. I just know that in most cases--heavy smoke coming out of the exhaust is usually caused by one or more bad rings. I believe that lots of mechanics would agree with me.

Reply to
Jason

you didn't state the symptoms, so relax guy. stating mileage would help too.

causes include valve stem seals, piston rings, pcv valve, even esoteric stuff like changing spark plugs & allowing oil to run into the cylinders.

in your case, i'd say rings. do the compression test.

Reply to
jim beam

I had an '85 with the 1.8 engine that did the same thing. When the weather was cold like 35 degrees F or less it would smoke bad til it warmed up. It had good compression and ran great. I decide to put rings in it and when I pulled the pistons I found that the oil control rings on every one of them was stuck in the ring grooves. There was very little wear in the bores and ring end gaps of the compression rings were all well within specs. I cleaned the grooves, honed the cylinders and put in the new rings and the problem was solved. I wondered if there would have been some way to free the rings up with out pulling them. Anyway it's got about 6,000 miles on it since then and doesn't smoke at all now.

John

Reply to
John

I did say it was BURNING oil, not USING it, and pointing out that it "cleared up" and "passed emissions" should indicate it was SMOKING pretty badly before. At least for anyone who's paying attention.

270,000-some kilometers.

Reply to
Matt Ion

Hmmmm, that's interesting... I haven't checked the compression yet, but like I said elsewhere, the way the thing performs, I don't expect there's a significant compression problem, and besides, every instance I've ever seen, from other cars to motorcycles to lawnmowers, worn compression rings result in minimal but consistant smoking regardless of engine temperature. Oil rings though... wonder if there's a relatively easy way to check that without pulling off the head and its

5,342 vacuum hoses. Too bad I didn't know to check that when I had the oilpan off, it woulda been easy to pull of a rod end cap and slip a piston out...
Reply to
Matt Ion

Only if you had the crank out of the way.

Reply to
Steve Bigelow

Well, that's what two or three mechanics (and this newsgroup, for that matter) suggested when my previous 87 Accord had the same problem several years ago. Had the head fully rebuilt, but it didn't help, which is why I'm searching for another course of action before going the expensive route on this one.

Reply to
Matt Ion

some people have claimed drizzling water in the intake will loosen carbon and possibly free stuck rings. not too much though- just enough to make a cloud of steam in the exhaust.

Reply to
SoCalMike

How about misting some in with a spray bottle?

Hmmm, worth a try...

Reply to
Matt Ion

John, Excellent post. I believe that you are correct as to the cause of the problem. It makes perfect sense to anyone that has ever worked on lots of engines. I have never seen this problem while working on engines. It would be a problem that would be hard to find unless you were looking for it. I learned a lot from your post. Jason

Reply to
Jason

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